Roswelllostcause: Hey Helen, here's the final chapter to the "prelude", if I remember I'll be back Thursday with the sequel. Eve: Love your take on the "boring" fic. I've been reading a lot since my back is so bad and some of the stuff I've gotten is so bad I'll read the last chapter, even though I know the ending, and call it a day. You're right, if they don't like it they don't have to read it. Happy Sunday. Carolyn: What a sweet lady, to change the subject a little, How's Bod "Ford" doing. See I remembered!!! Hooray for me. See you next fic. and God bless.

Chapter: 6

Ten month old JP was watching his daddy shave and get ready for workwhile sitting on the bathroom counter jabbering away. Max continued to carry on a conversation with his youngest child even though he couldn’t understand a word the baby said besides ‘da da’.

“Well, JP, what do you and mommy have planned today? Are you going to play with your sisters and brothers and then take a nap while Daddy’s at work?”

JP pointed at Max’s razor and said…”Da Da, mine…”

Max chuckled, “Yes JP…I’m your Da Da.”

JP pointed to Max’s razor and repeated, “Da Da, mine.”

Max finished shaving and put the baby on his hip and carried him to the bedroom and saw that Liz was missing.

“Liz, where are you sweetie. We’re finished shaving and I need to get dressed.”

Liz showed up at the door with Briana in tow with one braid half finished and said…

“Just one more minute Max…I’m almost finished.” And she finished with Briana’s hair so she would be ready to go to school with her Daddy. The girls attended school at the mansion with the children that were there. Liz felt better about allowing the girls go to school with Max rather than taking a chance at the local schools. She was still over-protective with her children. There were some things she just couldn’t get used to.

After Liz had the girls ready she took JP and headed to his room to bathe and dress him. Soon Max and the girls were ready to leave and when Liz went looking for JP she found him in their bedroom trying to climb up to the bathroom sink. Liz immediately grabbed for the tyke before he managed to climb onto the vanity stool and JP started to cry.

“Hey big guy, what’s wrong?”

JP pointed to Max’s razor and said “Mine.”

“No JP, daddy’s razor.”

JP cried harder, pointed and said, “Mine.”

“No, Daddy’s!” Liz said in a sterner tone.

JP would have no part of it….”Mine.” he sobbed and screamed…

Max came running into the bathroom to see what all of the commotion was and JP held his little arms out to his daddy and Max took him and Liz just shrugged her shoulders and told both sets of twins to go downstairs and play until they came down for them….and JP continued to cry.

“What’s wrong big guy? Is mommy being mean to that boy?”

Liz gave Max a glare and Max just chuckled…JP pointed to the razor and said. “Mine.”

Max looked at Liz and she shrugged again and nodded…

Max looked perplexed….”No JP, you can’t have daddy’s razor.”

JP screamed this time and shouted through his tears….”MINE!”

About that time Olivia came running up the stairs and barreled into the bathroom wondering what in the name of heaven was going on and JP held out his little arms to his best friend. Olivia immediately held her arms out to the baby and Max gladly handed him over…JP pointed to the razor amid sobs and said. “Mine.”

Olivia now understood…a tantrum, one of the most unusual occurrences in this household.

“No JP, that will hurt you.” And JP screamed louder and pointed … That was about all Liz was going to handle. She took the youngster into her arms and headed for his room. She diapered his little bottom…put him into his crib with his teddy bear and left the room…she quietly said as she left him alone…”Sleep it off JP.” And was gone.

Before Max headed downstairs again he peeked into they baby’s room and went over to the crib. JP was still shuddering from his fit of tears, sound asleep.

Max placed a kiss on the baby’s head and patted his little bottom…”You’re going to have to learn JP, she always wins.” And Max left the baby’s room with a broken heart. He could give him a razor without blades but he could wind up getting one that wasn’t safe and they would really have a problem so he just let it go.

Downstairs Briana, Deana, Gerard and Parker were all in the family room watching cartoons while Olivia and Liz prepared their breakfast. Max walked in to join the kids when Liz came in to announce it was time to eat and Briana asked her mother if JP was okay.

“Of course he’s okay. Some lessons are just harder to learn than others, on everyone.”

Max just smiled at his little wife and gave her a hug. He knew it was for JP’s own good but he also knew it was tough on Liz to have done what she did. He wanted to assure her that he agreed with her 100% and they all went to breakfast.

There were baby monitors all through the house and about an hour later Liz heard JP jabbering to himself so she went up to see how he was. He stood in his crib and held his little arms up to his mother who grabbed him up out of that crib and hugged him to her chest for dear life.

“Are you ready to face the day JP? We can play with Parker and Gerard and have lots of fun…what do you say?”

“Mama…” JP answered. Liz just smiled and went into JP’s bathroom and fixed his bathwater for him. When she turned around JP was crawling lickety-split toward her and Max’s bathroom and she followed. He reached into the dirty clothes basket and came back with Max’s tee shirt.

“Oh God” she thought to herself. She immediately went to Max’s drawer and took a clean tee shirt and put some of Max’s aftershave on it and held it out to the baby.

“Hey, JP, come here sweetheart…try a clean one.” JP immediately headed to his mother and dropped the dirty tee shirt in his wake. He sat down and hugged the shirt and Liz picked him and his shirt up and took him back to his room where she bathed and continued to get him dressed and ready for the day.

When Max came home with the girls about 3:30 in the afternoon JP and the boys were playing with their hot wheels in the play room and JP was sitting on Max’s tee shirt.

“Liz, what is he doing with that tee shirt?” Max was confused.

“Well, it seems that he wants a piece of his daddy with him and since he can’t have your razor he chose a tee shirt.”

“Well if he wants a tee shirt we’ll just buy him a truck load of them.” Max said.

“Oh no Max. It can’t be any old tee shirt, it has to be one of your tee shirts. Think about it. Briana and Deana have had each other since the womb…Parker and Gerard the same. JP has his daddy…he loves his sisters and brothers but he wants his daddy so the next best thing is something that’s daddy’s. Therefore, the tee shirt seems to fit the bill.”

JP carried those tee shirts around for four years…Max wanted to know if they were going to pack one in his lunch pail. The tee-shirts went to the market, the play ground, out to dinner and to church on Sunday.

“You’re the psychologist, you tell me!” Liz laughed…she was sure that JP wouldn’t want the kids in school to know that he was a baby and eventually would give up the shirts. Of course Gerard and Parker had a lot to do with it…teasing eventually catches up with a person one way or another.

And so, the Evans’ clan continued to thrive and grow and everyone was as happy as a family could be. They had their little differences but for the most part they were few and far between and they remained close and loyal. Max and Liz couldn’t have been happier and the Children’s Facility was a huge success.

*~*~*

Liz attended Kyle and Tess’s wedding in Connecticut the year after JP was born…Max chose not to acknowledge Liz’s question when she presented him with the invitation.

She knew she broke her promise to him about never mentioning her name in his presence but she felt she should. Max didn’t say anything about her attending alone as long as she didn’t expect him to go. It was beautiful and when Tess had her babies Liz took it upon herself to make sure they were tested for any genetically inherited problems. They were both fine and Tess and Kyle couldn’t thank Liz enough. Liz was more than happy to see to the health of their children and was sure to make them both understand that.

And so we leave out little family until the next story…”Meet the Evans Clan”

Coming next week “God willing and the creek don’t rise!” And since it’s Sunday, I don’t know what happened to Thursday, here’s a little message from Tweety.

Anger is a condition in which the tongue worksFaster than the mind.

You can’t change the pastBut you can ruin the Present by worrying overThe future.

Hi Ginger,Yes, you remembered the name right. Hubby is getting stronger but is still a long way from being independent. This next week he will move over to Bookdale Community for a "respite" while I go on a cruise, and a respite myself. I am looking forward to it. Our helper will still go by there every day to look in on him.Hope you are feeling well.Take care.

Helen: Thank you so much and I started editing the Evans Clan yesterday. Hopefully I'll have the first chapter by Thursday. Since I mixed stuff up and transferred everything over to a flash drive I'm really confused. I have duplicates, missing parts and a real mess here. I should leave some things alone and just go shopping. Carolyn: So glad to hear Bob is recuperating, even if it is slowly. In the meantime enjoy your cruise. Where are you headed? Someplace fun I hope. God bless and I'll continue to keep hubby in prayers. Eve: I don't usually reply to final chapters but since this is a continuing story I thought I might refresh your memory a little. Remember when Liz and the kids were in school and they used to tell their parents that something was wrong with Tess and nobody believed them. That's what got her started with her investigation to Tess's medical problems and Liz felt sorry for her because nobody ever tried to help her before. That's why she went to the wedding. Tess was Liz's first patient (guinea pig) with her studies into the problem and they became friends because of it. I hope that all made sense. Have a great day Eve and I'll be back Thursday, I hope.

"Age is just a state of mind"...I think that's mine? I could be wrong! I'm old, so sue me.